Oilers lose 4-3 to Wild

[Event Summary]

NHL.com | Edmonton Journal 

I didn't get to watch last night's game because I was over at my buddy Joe's place watching the Baylor/Washington Alamo Bowl. But I kept my eye on the Oilers score and it looks like I missed a great game from Taylor Hall. The Oilers again fail to win in Minnesota, no surprise there. 

Here's Hall's goodies from last evening:

Goal #10:


Unbelievable assist:

• Are the Blue Jackets cursed?
• Winter Classic is Sunday, I still remember the first one I ever saw in 2007. Here's the five things about this 2012 Winter Classic.

Tomorrow the Oil play in New York against the Islanders, 1:00 start. Nice little New Years Eve contest going on, along with most of the NHL. I'll be over at my aunt's for an early lunch and hopefully back in time to catch it.

Rexall Showdown a Few Days Before Christmas

 

Image via Twitter

Oilers vs. the Minnesota Wild tonight in Edmonton. Hockey-Reference says that the Oilers are a 53% win probability. It never feels like a win when the Oilers go up against the boring Wild. But lets see if the Oilers can break out the holiday cheer a few days before Santa arrives and snap this dreadful streak.

Hope Hallsy buries a few in the net.

Bad Teams Find a Way to Lose: Red Wings 3, Oilers 2

[Event Summary]

[NHL.com] [Edmonton Journal]

The Oilers are now 14-15-3 on the season. It's sad and depressing. I don't think they'll be over .500 again this year. The wheels have fallen off and this team needs a change. 

From Cult of Hockey: 

Basically, for the Oilers to make the playoffs, they need to do the same.  Assuming 95 points as the playoff cutoff (and right now it looks more like 97 points to get in for the Oilers)  and assuming the Oilers continue to pick up overtime losses at relatively the same rate, the team needs to go 30-15-4 to get in.  Is it possible?  Yes.  Is it likely?  Hardly.

RNH & Hall with markers recorded on Eberle's bomb:

Good looking goal by R.J. Umberger Last Night

We had the Columbus Blue Jackets on for a bit last night at the Ugly Sweater party. Here's a great goal from R.J. Umberger that had us all yelling in the living room.

Oilers become Saturday Night Shark Bait

[Cult of Hockey]


Last night, my Oil lost out in San Jose 3-2 to the Sharks.

Here was one of the few highlights. Hallsy to Ebs to even the score at one.



I'm really hung over from that aforementioned sweater party. I'm gonna go now.

Hallsy is back tonight (UPDATE: Taylor Hall Nets two Goals in return, Loses)

Hallsy returns tonight in Phoenix. Full recap to follow.

UPDATE: Alright so I watched some of this one, but I ended up passing out when it was 2-1 Coyotes and the 2nd intermission took over. Oilers end up losing by a final score of 4-2, and Taylor Hall nets two powerplay goals in his return from injury.


Edmonton Journal | Event Summary | NHL.com Summary |

Here's a look at Hallsy's two goals:


And



They don't play again until Saturday Night (Hockey Night) in San Jose. I'll be at an ugly sweater party, and most likely drunk.

Patrick Kane Owes Nicklas Backstrom Something

Don't know how long the NHL lets this game winner slide free on YouTube. So here it is on NHL.com.

Big win for the Hawks last night.


Hat Tip: Deadspin

Taylor Hall & Jordan Eberle Fun Competition

This is an oldie but a goodie nonetheless.



Hallsy is back tomorrow, thank God. Seven games did feel like eternity.

Send Taylor Hall to the NHL All Star Game in Ottawa

This is kind of cool. Once again, hat tip to 4TaylorHall.com

Taylor Hall eyeing return

Hat Tip: 4Taylorhall.com

My First Bruins Game

 [Box Score]

It was cool getting to see the World Champions live and in the flesh here in Columbus. Some things I took from this one:

-Milan Lucic is a dirty little player.

-I got to see Tyler Seguin, and although he didn't register any scoring it was pretty cool to know I saw him play.

-The Blue Jackets crowd was into it, and there were Bruins fans everywhere. Where do they all come from? 

-Saturday Night is definitely Hockey Night.

Love then they play this song on Hockey Night:

Here's Tim Thomas, the Stanley Cup MVP from last year. The guy registered several saves where he stood on his head. It really did remind me of when I read the book 'The Game' by Ken Dryden. It was like he stood back there in goal not even knowing how or when the game would come to him. But when it did it was time to twist, contort, and be as agile as a leopard.

Above is a view from up in the bleeds at Nationwide Arena. When the Oil come to town I'll make sure I keep score and have better seats.

This is a picture of the World Champions bench.

Zdeno Chara. The baddest man in hockey. And I got to see him score a goal. ZING.

My wife really likes this shot. This is during the National Anthem.

And this is the Blue Jackets anthem guy, Gene. I know this because the crowd yelled it. Anthems are a big deal in hockey. I love it!

Bill Simmons talks NHL

I listened to almost the entire first hour of The BS Report; where Puck Daddy's editor Greg Wyshynski stopped by to talk with Bill Simmons for the entire first hour.

Favorite part of the podcast is after the 30 minute mark when Bill Simmons is slobbering about Tyler Seguin and Wyshynski says he would still talk Hall over him. And they talk about it for 10 minutes or so.

The whole podcast is really enjoyable. I also like them talking about how shootouts suck and Wyshynski also calls the Oilers "the most exciting team in hockey" or something to that effect.

See you in 2 to 4 weeks

I'm just hoping Taylor Hall is back by Christmas.

This absolutely sucks. Good read here that I'm basically too depressed to keep reading. Get well soon, Hallsy. Please.

Black Friday NY City

Today was Black Friday and I visited the NHL store by Reebok in New York City. Absolutely awesome store. I was with company along with my wife who are not big hockey fans so I didn't have the chance to really look around it like I would have liked.

When I returned back from the city I found out the Oilers had won today 5-2, snapping their winless streak in Minnesota.

Here's a look-see at Taylor Hall's 7th goal of the season today, which counted as a game-winning goal. He also had two assists on my drive out to New Jersey in the Oilers win this past Wednesday.

Sidney Crosby's Legendary Return

[Event Summary]

[Empty Netters] [Puck Daddy]

Sid the Kid is back, and he delivered.

We had the game on at my house for a while--and by the time I had turned it on he had already netted a goal to open up the scoring. He would add another two assists and a second goal. He bested the great Mario Lemieux's return.

He proved that he's absolutely a living legend, beyond anyone that we've ever seen before. It's so good for the game of hockey to have this kid back and playing again. Still just 24 years old, Crosby has a real chance to continue building on his legend now.

The Return of Sidney Crosby

Sidney Crosby makes his emotional return to the sport tonight--about 11 months since he last stepped foot on the ice.

It's good news for the Penguins, and it's good news for the sport. When I started this blog, Crosby was my favorite NHL player. He's an icon. I'll be tuning into Versus tonight to see him hopefully net his first points of the season.

People have to remember that at one point there were rumors that Crosby might never play again. My personal hope is that Crosby never misses another game. I love watching him play and I think that he can still go down as one of the all time greats in the sport.

I'll have a recap tonight. Good for Sidney Crosby.

Taylor Hall's second career Hat Trick

[Event Summary]

[Edmonton Journal] [CBC]

It was my favorite night of the NHL season last night--a Saturday night and Hockey Night in Canada--and Taylor Hall made it an even more special night by finding the net three times. He broke the longest goal-less streak of his career last night by scoring once in each period.

Ryan Nugent Hopkins netted five assists. Jordan Eberle had a goal and three markers. It was just a fun night in which the Oilers ended a losing streak in taking out the top team in the conference.

This was the most goals the Oilers had scored in a game since I was their fan. It was on a perfect November Saturday night and just like Taylor Hall's first hat trick last season, I got a chance to watch the entire thing.

Jaroslav Halak robs Taylor Hall

This save actually had Edmonton fans moaning and groaning after the game (the Oilers 5th win in a row) and wondering if Taylor Hall has the ability to finish.



Ht: Pro Hockey Talk

Oilers beat Caps 2-1, biggest win since when?

[Event Summary]

[NHL.com] [Cult of Hockey]

The Washington Capitals have been surging, jumping out to a 7-0-0 start this season. Last night I think the Oil grew up a bit. Look at the sheer joy and passion on the face of Taylor Hall, as he scores his 50th NHL point on a beautiful goal. The video is below. 

It's almost as if Hall's look is part joy, disbelief, happiness, and 'holy shit can you even believe we're here doing this right now against an undefeated Alex Ovechkin-led team?!?!'

It's absolutely astounding to me how much fun these Oilers are to watch. They're now 5-2-2 on the season and they're tied for first place with the Colorado Avalanche--whom they play tonight. I don't expect first place play to continue, partly because I don't think the Oilers get the type of goal-tending they're getting right now all season long. But you ride it for as long as it lasts and accumulate as many points as possible. Right now, the Oil are a good home team who are a tough out every night because of the energy the young kids like Hall, Jordan Eberle (each with goals last night, Eberle adding an assist to go with his GW Goal), and Nugent-Hopkins. Those guys are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Save by save (34 times to be exact), Nik Khabibulin put another brick in the wall. How long can he keep this up? I do think to a degree with Bulin cools off, Devin Dubnyk will be there to pick him up a little bit. And surprise goal-tending was a reason I thought the Oilers could slip into the playoffs this year.

The great thing about this team is they are arriving ahead of schedule and doing it under the radar because no one in the NHL saw this happening.



All this hoopla and excitement happens the same night that the Winnipeg Jets beat the Philadelphia Flyers 9-8. Since it was a record setting game, here's the event summary of that beauty.

Watch video of the 17 goal game here.

Or just check this out:

Grantland on the Habs

Really nice read on the Canadiens over at Grantland.